Baoding, Hebei — On February 1, at the Xiong’an–Xinzhou High-Speed Railway super major bridge spanning the Beijing–Guangzhou Railway in Shunping County, Baoding City, Hebei Province, employees of China Railway No.3 Engineering Group steadily and accurately laid the first pair of 500-meter-long rails onto the ballastless track bed, marking the official commencement of the track-laying phase for the Xiong’an–Xinzhou High-Speed Railway.
The Xiong’an–Xinzhou High-Speed Railway is a key component of China’s Eight Vertical and Eight Horizontal high-speed railway network, forming part of the Beijing–Kunming corridor. The line starts at Xiong’an Station in Hebei Province and terminates at Xinzhou West Station in Shanxi Province, with a mainline length of approximately 342 kilometers and a design speed of 350 km/h. Track-laying operations span Hebei and Shanxi provinces, with a total track-laying length of 716 kilometers and the installation of 147 sets of turnouts. According to the construction plan, track laying commenced on February 1 on the Hebei section, followed by subsequent operations on the Xiong’an–Baoding section and the Shanxi section.
As bridges and tunnels account for 88% of the entire line, multiple tunnel sections feature continuous long steep gradients of up to 30‰, posing significant challenges for long-rail transportation and locomotive braking and greatly increasing construction difficulty. Meanwhile, track connection works at Xiong’an Station and Xinzhou West Station also face multiple challenges, including high safety risks, technical complexity, and short maintenance window durations.
To ensure the safe, high-quality, and efficient advancement of track-laying works, the project team of China Railway No.3 Engineering Group carried out specialized training on construction safety management to strengthen safety awareness among all participants. Detailed plans for long-rail transportation and installation were meticulously prepared, with strict control over technical standards and safety quality. A total of 15 locomotives, 8 rail vehicles, 4 sets of long-rail frames, and 2 track-laying machines were deployed. In addition, an information-based track-laying system was actively applied, enabling real-time remote monitoring of the operating status of track-laying machines, long-rail transport vehicles, and rail-welding locomotives, thereby laying a solid foundation for safe and efficient track-laying operations.
